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Farmers dub tribunal award inadequate

Coimbatore: The quantum of water awarded to Tamil Nadu by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal is inadequate, the Tamil Nadu State Farmers' Association has said.

In a release here, State secretary of the association V.K. Ramasamy said the verdict that came after 16 years was not satisfying to the farmers.

The tribunal constituted in June 1990 in its interim award ordered release of 205 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu on June 25, 1991. Now, the final award said Karnataka should give 192 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu from Cauvery, which was 13 tmcft less than what the State had got in the interim award.Of the total 745 tmcft of water, Tamil Nadu had been awarded 419 tmcft. With Karnataka asked to give only 192 tmcft, the remaining 227 tmcft of water would be from the tributaries of the Cauvery -- Bhavani, Noyyal and Amaravathy, all in Tamil Nadu.

With Kerala attempting to construct check dams across the tributaries, these rivers would never be able to meet the requirements of Tamil Nadu i.e., 227 tmcft. The farmers had put the total water requirement for irrigating the lands in the Cauvery delta region in Tamil Nadu at 562 tmcft, Mr. Ramasamy said.